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Industry & Manufacturing

The Museum's collections document centuries of remarkable changes in products, manufacturing processes, and the role of industry in American life. In the bargain, they preserve artifacts of great ingenuity, intricacy, and sometimes beauty.

The carding and spinning machinery built by Samuel Slater about 1790 helped establish the New England textile industry. Nylon-manufacturing machinery in the collections helped remake the same industry more than a century later. Machine tools from the 1850s are joined by a machine that produces computer chips. Thousands of patent models document the creativity of American innovators over more than 200 years.

The collections reach far beyond tools and machines. Some 460 episodes of the television series Industry on Parade celebrate American industry in the 1950s. Numerous photographic collections are a reminder of the scale and even the glamour of American industry.

This small machete was used by workers at the Mars Center for Cocoa Science in Itajuipe, Bahia, Brazil. Typically machetes are used for a variety of work from trimming of branches and harvesting pods to opening the pods or fending off snakes.

Cacao trees, the source of all chocolate, is grown in equatorial regions of Africa, South America, and Asia by about 6.5 million small land owners using simple techniques. But the trees are endangered by diseases such as black pod, witches’ broom, and frosty pod rot. Additionally, the low productivity of the trees helps lock farmers into poverty. The Mars company maintains a research facility in Brazil to improve cacao cultivation techniques and help develop hybrids resistant to disease and improve yields.

Yogeeswaran Ganesan’s fabricated this four inch silicon wafer for use in experiments relating to his 2011 Rice Universtiy PhD thesis on “The Mechanical Characterization of Multi Wall Carbon Nanotubes and Related Interfaces in Nanocomposites.” Standard silicon microfabrication techniques were tailored to make microdevices on the silicon wafer to meet the needs of Ganesan’s experiments. The experiment included the use of a nanoindenter to examine the characterization of nanomaterials under a scanning electron microscope, and a novel procedure to help develop a solid understanding the physical characteristics of carbon nanotubes by examining their deformation and failure under stress and strain in real time. The microdevices on the silicon wafer provided an electrostatically actuated platform for testing the properties of individual nickel nanowires as well as multiwall carbon nanotubes to provide experimental verification of theoretical predictions of nanomaterial applications.

These Uvex brand protective goggles were made by Honeywell, and used in an Intel chip manufacturing lab during the 2000s. The glasses have blue tinted lenses on black top frame; the lenses are only held to the frame at the top.

The National Cash Register Company produced this Model 421 cash register around 1914. The register was used in a Marshall Field & Company department store. The register has three columns of keys for entering numbers, and a fourth column of function keys. The operating crank is on the right side, the cash drawer is below, and a receipt dispenser on the left side. Pop-up indicators above the keys indicate the total purchase. The register has serial number 1383236.The National Cash Register Company produced this Model 421 cash register around 1914. The register was used in a Marshall Field & Company department store. The register has three columns of keys for entering numbers, and a fourth column of function keys. The operating crank is on the right side, the cash drawer is below, and a receipt dispenser on the left side. Pop-up indicators above the keys indicate the total purchase. The register has serial number 1383236.

This sign hung on the twelve story Marshall Field & Company department store on State Street in Chicago, Illinois built in stages starting in 1902. By 1910 Marshall Field was bigger than most factories. It had more than 8,000 employees, 250,000 customers, and a million square feet of retail space.

One aspiring young entrepreneur, Marshall Field, moved to Chicago from Massachusetts in 1856 and began working his way up in the dry goods business. Partnering with different people, he was involved in several retail operations, eventually owning his own store, Marshall Field & Company, in 1881. Sensitive to gender concerns, Field realized that the majority of his customers were women and that they should be catered to differently than men. Field is reputed to have coined the phrase “Give the lady what she wants.” Between 1890 and 1940 Field, and the retail industry at large, shifted to an emphasis on service: one price (no haggling), accessible goods (not behind the counter), a tolerance for customer browsing, and easy returns. Department stores sought upper- and middle-class customers with impulse money to spend.

In 2005 the Marshall Field’s chain was purchased by Federated Department Stores, Inc. and most stores were rebranded as Macy’s in 2006.

Sandpaper for industrial use was one of the first products of The Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company (later known as 3M). The company expanded into the nascent do-it-yourself consumer market in the 1930s advertising sandpaper for furniture repair and other uses. The 3M trademarked plaid design was first introduced in 1945.

The Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company was founded in 1902 as a mining operation, but soon began to use its minerals to make sandpaper. 3M is known for its culture of innovation which encourages employees of disparate background to work together. The company manufactures a wide variety of products focusing on films and coatings. Products range from masking tape and reflective sheeting to synthetic fabrics and post it notes.

Pressure sensitive tape was pioneered by Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company (later renamed 3M). In the early 1920s 3M engineer Richard Drew saw automotive painters struggling to mask out areas as they did two tone paint jobs. He told his bosses at 3M and was given permission to work on an adhesive tape that would hold well but release cleanly. The result was adhesive tape brought to market in 1925. Changing base film, Drew and 3M created cellulose tape in 1930, and later transparent tape. The iconic snail tape dispenser was introduced by 3M in the 1939, and has a serrated edge for easy dispensing.

The Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company was founded in 1902 as a mining operation, but soon began to use its minerals to make sandpaper. 3M is known for its culture of innovation which encourages employees of disparate background to work together. The company manufactures a wide variety of products focusing on films and coatings. Products range from masking tape and reflective sheeting to synthetic fabrics and post it notes.

Pressure sensitive tape was pioneered by Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company (later renamed 3M). In the early 1920s 3M engineer Richard Drew saw automotive painters struggling to mask out areas as they did two tone paint jobs. He told his bosses at 3M and was given permission to work on an adhesive tape that would hold well but release cleanly. The result was adhesive tape brought to market in 1925. Changing base film, Drew and 3M created cellulose tape in 1930, and later transparent tape. The iconic snail tape dispenser was introduced by 3M in the 1939, and has a serrated edge for easy dispensing.

The Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company was founded in 1902 as a mining operation, but soon began to use its minerals to make sandpaper. 3M is known for its culture of innovation which encourages employees of disparate background to work together. The company manufactures a wide variety of products focusing on films and coatings. Products range from masking tape and reflective sheeting to synthetic fabrics and post it notes.

Pressure sensitive tape was pioneered by Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company (later renamed 3M). In the early 1920s 3M engineer Richard Drew saw automotive painters struggling to mask out areas as they did two tone paint jobs. He told his bosses at 3M and was given permission to work on an adhesive tape that would hold well but release cleanly. The result was adhesive tape brought to market in 1925. Changing base film, Drew and 3M created cellulose tape in 1930, and later transparent tape. Prior to being sold in its iconic snail dispenser with serrated edge, tape was dispensed in a tin can.

The Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company was founded in 1902 as a mining operation, but soon began to use its minerals to make sandpaper. 3M is known for its culture of innovation which encourages employees of disparate background to work together. The company manufactures a wide variety of products focusing on films and coatings. Products range from masking tape and reflective sheeting to synthetic fabrics and post it notes.